A diet high in tomatoes may help ward off breast cancer, according to a new study, which adds to the numerous health benefits of the often-overlooked fruit.

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WEDNESDAY, Dec. 18, 2013 — Italian food lovers take note – a diet rich in tomatoes may help protect against breast cancer, according to a small new study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. Tomatoes helped regulate a hormone that controls fat and sugar metabolism -- and one that can raise your risk for breast cancer if you are deficient in it.

Researchers from Rutgers University examined the effects of a tomato-rich diet and a soy-rich diet on 70 postmenopausal women, finding that the tomato diet resulted in a 9 percent increase of the hormone adiponectin, high levels of which are linked to a reduced risk of obesity, diabetes and breast cancer.

For 10 weeks, the women ate tomato products containing at least 25 milligrams of lycopene, followed by another 10 week period where the women consumed at least 40 grams of soy daily.

"The advantages of eating plenty of tomatoes and tomato-based products, even for a short period, were clearly evident in our findings," study author Adana Llanos, PhD, assistant professor of epidemiology at Rutgers University, said in a statement. "Eating fruits and vegetables, which are rich in essential nutrients, vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals such as lycopene, conveys significant benefits.”

Lycopene is an antioxidant, said Nina Eng, RD, a registered dietician with Plainview Hospital in Plainview, N.Y., which means it can help protect against cell damage that may be linked to cancer. Some studies have shown lycopene to aid in prostate cancer prevention.

“This finding doesn’t surprise me,” Eng said, “All of the evidence we have so far shows that eating a plant-based diet high in fruits and vegetables is the best option we have to reduce your risk of breast cancer, and this study just ties into that.”

But while the tomato diet increased the levels of adiponectin, the soy diet caused the levels to drop. However, it’s unclear what exactly this means, as research is conflicting when it comes to soy and breast cancer, Eng said.

“Soy is a controversial topic in regards to breast cancer,” she said. “Asian studies have shown that soy lowers breast cancer risk, but that association hasn’t been found in the United States. We need much more research.”

Myra Barginear, MD, an oncologist at the North Shore-LIJ Cancer Institute in Manhasset, N.Y., cautioned that the findings didn’t directly indicate that eating tomatoes will reduce your cancer risk. Instead, they showed that doing so simply increased the levels of adiponectin.

“We don’t know for sure if doing so translates into decreasing the risk of breast cancer,” she said, “but given that low levels of adiponectin is linked to an increased risk of breast cancer, it’s likely that raising the levels would have the opposite effect.”

But while the findings are still very preliminary, they are noteworthy, Dr. Barginear said

“Over 70 percent of breast cancer occurs in postmenopausal women,” Barginear said. “So anytime there’s a potential to decrease a woman’s risk, we should take notice. This is potentially something can do just that.”

In addition, it would be very easy to incorporate the amount of lycopene needed to see a benefit, Barginear added.

“Women were given 45 milligrams of lycopene,” she said. “That’s equivalent to having a cup of tomato juice every day. It’s not unreasonable to incorporate into someone’s diet.”

But simply adding tomatoes into your diet isn’t enough to prevent yourself from developing breast cancer, Eng said. You need to incorporate healthy choices into every aspect of your life in order to make a real difference.

“There’s no magic foods to decrease your risk of breast cancer,” she said, “but a healthy diet, along with exercise, will help.”

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